A blog about afternoon tea and cake

King's College London History Graduate. Food enthusiast, cake addict and baking amateur (make that very amateur)! Aside from history and food, my main interests include books, cars, comedy, horse riding, rabbits, pugs, travelling, fashion, and basically anything covered in glitter.

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Great British Bake-off

This week was half term and one of my best friend’s birthdays, so we decided that there was no better way to celebrate than with a wonderful Autumn dinner party! I had been particularly inspired by the November issue of the Good Food magazine, as well as the recent Great British Bake-Off that I watched religiously every single week, so decided to go all out and create a 3-course masterpiece and really put my baking skills to the test! Most normal people would create a menu that involved three relatively straight forward dishes. However, anyone who knows me will know that I am not a normal person. I wanted to bake my own bread, fill a whole pumpkin full of cheese fondue, create a vegetarian main dish that everyone would enjoy, and finish with a bang by presenting the hardest technical challenge ever appointed on The Great British Bake-Off: the Prinsesstårta. Nothing could possibly go wrong, could it?!

The Starter

Homemade Bread with Pumpkin Fondue

The starter was probably the one course that looked like everything was going to be a complete disaster, but in actual fact turned out to be everyone’s favourite! Firstly, I was well aware before putting it in the oven that I had over-proved my bread. Secondly, I had baked the pumpkin for an hour and a half and it had filled with tons of water that the recipe in the Good Food magazine made no mention of. The bottom of the pumpkin then split slightly when emptying it of the water, and the whole thing had to be held up with a bottomless baking tin whilst baking the cheese fondue in it for the last half an hour. I also had far too much cheese and filling to fit inside of the pumpkin, so had to create the rest of the fondue on the hob. However, as you can see from the finished result, the starter was a complete success! The bread, which was a Fabulous Baking Brother’s recipe, was absolutely amazing, especially for my first ever attempt at baking bread. It was absolutely beautiful in flavour and the fact that the bread was quite thick and heavy worked quite well with the thick cheese fondue. Everyone also used their spoons to delve into the pumpkin and take chunks of roast pumpkin with the melted cheese instead of putting it onto the bread. What could be better than an edible bowl?! The only downside to the whole thing was that it was extremely filling so we were all dreading the main course that had already been put in the oven!

The Main

Roast Vegetables with Halloumi Cheese and Pesto Couscous

One of my best friends is a vegetarian, so the main course had to be suitable for him, especially as it was his birthday! Sometimes, it can be hard to cater for people who like meat with their main meal when it has to be vegetarian, but I seemed to have catered for everybody with my main dish, as everyone was really happy with it, even if we were all too full to finish it! Roast vegetables are one of my favourite year-round dishes, and adding halloumi makes a wonderful contrast in flavour and texture. The halloumi is also a really quick addition, as it only takes a couple of minutes to fry before adding it to the roasted vegetables that have already been dished up. The couscous also takes less than 5 minutes of adding boiled water until it is soft and fluffy, and lots of pesto to make it super delicious!

Obviously, after all that food, we required quite a long break before embarking on the mountain that was pudding…

The Dessert

Prinsesstårta (Swedish Princess Cake)

Serving my Prinsesstårta cake felt like such a massive achievement. No one thought that I would be able to produce the cake, let alone as part of a three-course meal that I prepared and cooked entirely on my own! I think I realised that the biggest part to achieving it all was time management and knowing exactly what I needed to do and when I needed to do it! Everyone was really impressed with the final product and it really was the perfect cake for a celebration. The only bit that really went wrong was that I had forgotten to buy the caster sugar to make the marzipan in the morning, so I had to use golden caster sugar instead, which meant that the green food colouring did not take to it as easily. However, I was extremely happy with it, and the addition of mulled berry jam instead of raspberry jam added a wonderful festive twist to it.

The kitchen may have looked like a bomb had hit it and I may have broken my mum’s new expensive digital weighing scales, but judging from how much we all enjoyed the food, I think it was worth it! I, personally, cannot wait to host my next dinner party, but I think my parents can!

This weekend I was lucky enough to attend the BBC Good Food Bakes & Cakes Show absolutely free, thanks to winning tickets in a Lakeland competition! I had an absolutely wonderful time stuffing my face with samples of chocolate, and buying so many exciting edible goodies that I could not face dinner on Sunday evening due to having eyes bigger than my stomach! For anyone who thinks they may be interested in attending in the future, I would thoroughly encourage you to go. It is a fabulous day out for people of any age, with cake decorating masterclasses for children and adults alike. You are also guaranteed to pick up all your baking needs at an incredible discount. I got some wonderful new tins that I will be using when I host my dinner party this week. Actually, I was laden down with bags when leaving Islington’s Business Design Centre, and that was after I’d eaten half the treats I’d purchased at the event! Oops!

After purchasing my tins from the Lakeland concession at the entrance of the Business Design Centre, the first stalls that grabbed my attention were Dimkin’s macaroons and The Marshmallowists’ fabulous flavours of Passionfruit & Ginger, Blackcurrant & Mint, Strawberry & Basil, and Blueberry & Gin. The macaroons were crisp and light, with smooth, creamy centres, and the flavour combinations were absolutely wonderful. I had Banana & Strawberry, Blueberry & Liquorice, Rhubarb & Strawberry, and Rose & Raspberry, but my absolute favourite was the Mint Chocolate. The flavours were strong and fresh, and took me back to my childhood days of eating Mint Chocolate Cornettos at the park.

As well as getting to eat and buy lots of wonderful tasty treats, we also had the chance to watch Paul Hollywood demonstrate how to make a perfect Devonshire Split and a super sweet sugary Eccles Cake for just £5 extra. This was a wonderful treat for any Bake-Off fan, and Louis from this year’s final was in the audience!

(Obviously, this is not Paul Hollywood in the picture, but someone setting everything up for his demonstration!)

After Paul’s hunger-inducing demonstration, we were back on the shopping floor and I seemed to want everything, despite being extremely full from stuffing 4 rather large marshmallows in my face before Paul Hollywood made his way to the stage! The positive side to this was that my beautiful box of meringues that I purchased from the Meringue Girls actually made it home and I could share them with my parents!

They tasted just as beautiful as they looked and were a personal favourite of mine from the show. The Rhubarb & Custard and Gin & Tonic flavours were particularly wonderful, but my absolute favourite was the Watermelon meringue – it was decorated beautifully with the black seeds really adding a special aesthetic touch, and its flavour was just perfect.

All in all this was an extremely good day out, and I have already put next year’s dates in my diary! The show will run from the 24th to the 26th October 2015, so you have lots of time to plan a showstopper of a bake and get everything you need for it at the show!

Lemon Curd vs. Nutella

Every month the Hummingbird Bakery, which is one of my favourite cupcake shops EVER, creates two new, special edition cupcakes. Every month, these cupcakes go head-to-head, battling it out for the number one spot.

April 2014 sees the arrival of Lemon Curd vs. Nutella. The former is a zingy lemon sponge, bursting with a lemon curd centre; the latter is an indulgent chocolate nutty adventure, made from Hummingbird’s signature chocolate cupcake, topped with crunchy roasted hazelnuts. But which cupcake deserves the number one title this month?

Lemon Curd Cupcake

This lemon curd cupcake is absolutely bursting with flavour. This cupcake has it all, with its light lemon sponge, topped with a generous helping of a sweet, tangy lemon frosting, this cupcake was a beautiful, flavoursome surprise. Not to mention the gloriously gooey and messy lemon curd centre, which was an added zesty bonus and really set this lemon cupcake apart from the standard lemon cupcake you would get at any other bakery. But we all know that Hummingbird is far removed from the category of standard, striving to give its customers something different, something adventurous, and something a little bit special every single day of the week!

Nutella Cupcake

The Nutella cupcake is comprised of Hummingbird’s signature chocolate cupcake with its glorious chocolate frosting. However, rather than finishing it off with chocolate sprinkles, the Nutella cupcake is topped with chopped roasted hazelnuts for an extra crunch and an added twist to create a nutty treat. Whilst I’m usually a massive fan of Hummingbird’s chocolate-themed cupcakes, this one was slightly disappointing in the fact that it wasn’t overly nutty unless you managed to get a mouthful of the chopped nuts. Maybe a hazelnut and chocolate sponge, or a blended frosting would have been the way forward? Nevertheless, it was still delicious, and I’m never one to turn down a chocolate treat from Hummingbird!

Therefore, the Lemon Curd special edition cupcake is this month’s star bake in my Great Hummingbird Bake-off competition.

Check back in May for news on Hummingbird Bakery’s latest special editions.

King's College London History Graduate. Food enthusiast, cake addict and baking amateur (make that very amateur)! Aside from history and food, my main interests include books, cars, comedy, horse riding, rabbits, pugs, travelling, fashion, and basically anything covered in glitter.